Headbangers rejoice, the gods of metal are slipping on the leather and spikes again to celebrate a milestone anniversary.

Judas Priest is back on the road for the band’s “50 Heavy Metal Years” tour, which brings them to the Shrine in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 15, after delaying the tour two years because of the coronavirus pandemic and a medical issue.

Formed in 1970 in Birmingham, England, the band’s current incarnation includes singer Rob Halford, bassist Ian Hill, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner and drummer Scott Travis.

Decked out in leather and playing heavy, riff-laden rock driven by duel guitars and operatic vocals, the band helped define both the look and sound of heavy metal.

The band’s 1980 release “British Steel,” which included the hits “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight,” is widely considered a metal classic. The Grammy-winning band was also a staple on MTV in the 1980s and have been nominated three times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The anniversary tour was originally set for 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19. Then guitarist Richie Faulkner had to recover from a ruptured aorta he suffered on stage during a September concert at the Louder Than Life festival in Kentucky.

In addition to blessing metalheads with live performances again, the band has released a massive 42-CD box set that includes every official live and studio album Judas Priest has recorded, plus 13 unreleased discs.

Halford spoke to the Southern California News Group in a phone interview from his longtime home in Phoenix about the tour, the band’s longevity and those leather outfits. The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.

Q: Fifty years of doing anything is an accomplishment, much less 50 years of playing head-banging heavy metal music. What goes through your mind when you think of so many years of playing metal?

A: We’re feeling really good. It’s just a remarkable sense of ongoing achievement. For any artist, for any band to be able to sustain themselves this long is pretty unique, especially in our style of music, heavy metal music.

Q: Considering the tour delays and this pandemic, how excited are you to get back on the road again?

A: It’s a relief. We all need the relief and the joy and the excitement and the power of the energy of being together. The great thing about shows is that we’re together, we can look at each other and we’re all there for the same thing. This has been such a terrible time for so many people, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, there’s always a rainbow at the end of the storm and we’re ready to rock and roll again.

Q: With so many songs in your long career, what are we hearing from you on this tour? Is it the greatest hits? Deep cuts?

A: (laughs) I’m laughing because I wish we had a greatest hits tour. You know, we got “Breaking the Law,” we got “Living After Midnight,” we got  “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.” Hey, that’s a lot. They do say in America, if you do have one hit that can give you life. But what we’re trying to do in the time we have in any given show is taking us through some of the highlights of our career.

Q: You have been nominated yet again for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, how special would it be for you to get in on your third nomination? Or is that something that’s not really a big deal for the band?

A: It would be a blast. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is for all kinds of music and that includes heavy metal. But if you look at the people who have made it into the Hall, there’s a distinct lack of this style of music that we make. If we do get in, it’s a win for Priest, it’s a win for metal, it’s a win for our fans.

Q: You have plenty of albums behind you obviously, but how about any new music from Priest?

A: Yeah, we’re tracking right now, we’re putting the components that we’ve been building for a while. We’re slowly constructing and creating this new Priest album, which again, I always throw out that it’ll be ready when it’s ready, but I think it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Q: Any plans to include any of these new songs in this tour?

A: There isn’t. But you know that’s not a bad idea, maybe we will at some point.

Q: You’re known for all the awesome leather you wear on stage: All these years later does it still feel just as good slipping on the leather and spikes for shows?

A: Oh, yeah. I’m just an old leather drag queen daddy these days.

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Judas Priest

When: 8 p.m. March 15

Where: The Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles

Tickets: $49.50-$159.50, plus fees.

COVID-19 protocols: Proof of full vaccination required for all attendees.

Information: shrineauditorium.com